The VW AutoPavilion is an absolute heaven for any car fanatic with some great Volkswagen related exhibits covering the whole history of VW. Outside the front entrance of the museum is a roadhouse and garage that may take some people back in time a little bit. But so will most of the exhibits inside the museum as well.
Maduna Road is one of the road in Langa, Uitenhage, where the Langa massacre took place in 1985. The Langa massacre took place on the 25th anniversary of the Sharpville massacre of 1960. The police fired on a group of mourners on their way to a banned funeral, killing 20 people. There was an international outcry following this incident and a Commission of Inquiry (Kannemeyer Commission) was immediately appointed to investigate the cause of the shooting. The story is told…
The Cuyler Manor Museum just outside Uitenhage is one of my favorite spots in the town. The manor house was built in 1814 by Colonel Jacob Glen Cuyler who was the Landdrost of Uitenhage from 1806 to 1827. The Cape Dutch style building has been restored and turned into a museum showing how people lived back in the 1800's. The farmyard around the manor house forms part of the museum complex and include a touch farm, old water mill, a Xhosa…
If you are into cars then the VW AutoPavilion is just the place for you. The museum is state of the art and a superb representation of everything Volswagen. On display is everything from actual cars to driver simulators, engine parts right through to the detailed history of VW. Visitor can also book tours through the VW factory next door to the museum, but I have to be honest here. I've never been on the factory tour so I can't really comment in it. I…
I'm fascinated by a lot of things so I won't say that war memorials fascinate me, although I find it very interesting how the war memorial in every town - because yes, just every town has some kind of war memorial - looks different. Ranging from cenotaphs to historic cannons and massive monuments to small simple objects. This is the war memorial in Uitenhage containing a list of men from the town who died during the two World Wars.
I think its very sad that so few people visit the Cuyler Manor Museum in Uitenhage and get to see its many features. One of these is their working water mill which if you ask very nicely, they may just show the workings of to you.
The Groendal Wilderness Area just outside Uitenhage is the ideal spot to go and loose yourself in a natural area for the weekend while actually still being fairly close to the city. Groendal is typically characterised by rugged terrain, streams and vast ravines and is surrounded by the Groot Winterhoek Mountain range. The reserve is 30 000 hectare in size and is the catchment area of the Swartkops River with the Groendal Dam being one of the water supply dams for…
With the fairly recent upgrade of the market square area in front of the Uitenhage town hall, the Anglo Boer War Memorial have been moved and is now positioned a bit more prominently. The monument was unveiled in 1904 and contains the names of Uitenhage citizens who died in the Anglo Boer War fought between 1899 and 1902. The interesting fact about the life-size soldier that forms part of the monument is that it was based on the likeness of an actual soldier…
The VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage has a very impressive collection of vehicles and memorabilia connected to Volkswagen and every boy (young or old) who is interested in cars should visit the museum at least once. Part of the collection are a number of Beetles. 288 353 Beetles were manufactured at the Uitenhage plant between 1951 and 1979 with the rusty red coloured one on the left being the very last to come off the production line. It has only 200 kilometers on the…
Looking at this scene with the Xhosa shepherd hut surrounded by flowering aloes one could easily think that the picture was taken somewhere in the heart of the former Transkei or the Wild Coast. In actual fact it was taken at the Cuyler Manor Museum just outside Uitenhage.